Axial flow gas turbine

1. An axial flow gas turbine comprising:

a rotor including alternating rows of air-cooled blades and rotor heat shields, and a stator including inner rings, alternating rows of air-cooled vanes, and stator heat shields mounted on the inner rings, wherein the stator coaxially surrounds the rotor to define a hot gas path therebetween, such that the rows of blades and stator heat shields, and the rows of vanes and rotor heat shields, are opposite to each other, respectively, and a row of vanes and an adjacent row of blades in the downstream direction define a turbine stage, wherein at least one of the vanes includes a projection extending downstream, and wherein the blades comprise tips and outer blade platforms at the tips; and

wherein the outer blade platforms comprise a plurality of radially outer teeth running parallel to each other in the circumferential direction and being arranged one after the other in the direction of the hot gas flow, said teeth being divided into first and second teeth, wherein the second teeth are positioned downstream of the first teeth, wherein the first teeth are opposite to said projection of adjacent vanes of the turbine stage, and wherein the second teeth are opposite to respective stator heat shields.

2. An axial flow gas turbine according to claim 1 , wherein the blade platforms comprise three outer teeth, a first of which comprises the first tooth in the downstream direction, and a second of which comprises the second and third tooth in the downstream direction.

3. An axial flow gas turbine according to claim 1 , wherein the adjacent vanes of the turbine stage are configured and arranged to be cooled with cooling air, and the utilized air from the adjacent vanes effuses between the stator heat shields and the adjacent vanes into the hot gas path to flow along and externally cool the stator heat shields and opposite outer blade platforms.

4. An axial flow gas turbine according to claim 1 , further comprising:

an inner ring mounted on a vane carrier;

a first cavity between the inner ring and the vane carrier;

a plenum;

a second cavity between the vanes and the vane carrier, the second cavity being configured and arranged to be supplied with cooling air from the plenum;

wherein the stator heat shields are mounted on the inner ring;

wherein the vanes are mounted on the vane carrier; and

wherein a leakage of cooling air from the first and second cavities exits between the stator heat shields and adjacent vanes with said downstream protections, such that the leaked cooling air flows along the outside of the outer blade platforms in the downstream direction.

5. An axial flow gas turbine according to claim 1 , wherein:

the stator heat shields each comprise a forward hook and a rear hook, both hooks extending circumferentially;

the stator heat shields are each mounted on an inner ring by the forward hook and the rear hook; and

the rear hooks each comprise a chamfer at both ends over a predetermined length configured and arranged to reduce high stress concentrations due to high temperature deformation of the stator heat shields.

6. An axial flow gas turbine according to claim 5 , further comprising:

a circumferential slot in the inner ring;

a radial projection, an axial slot, a spring, and a pin in the stator heat shield, wherein the spring forces the pin into the axial slot; and

wherein the stator heat shields are axially fixed by the radial projection and circumferentially fixed by the pin.